Executive Leadership

Some of the greatest leadership moments in a private club career don’t happen in a boardroom presentation or a flawless member event. They happen in the quiet, courageous instant when a leader looks at a member, a teammate, or a mentor and says, “I need your help.” That moment of vulnerability is not a crack in the armor. It is the armor.

We have spent the better part of three decades watching leaders build remarkable clubs and extraordinary careers. And the ones who endure, the ones whose teams run through walls for them, the ones whose members feel genuinely seen…they all share one trait in common. They know how to ask for help.

Vulnerability Builds Trust Faster Than Expertise

Reflecting on nearly thirty years of working with leadership in some of the finest private clubs in this country, a pattern has repeated itself so consistently that it can no longer be considered a hunch. The leaders who build the deepest loyalty (from their staff, from their boards, from their members) are not the ones who project the most confidence. They are the ones who are most comfortable not having all the answers.

We recognize that it is a counterintuitive thing to say in an industry that prizes polish and precision. We are in the business of delivering exceptional experiences, and there is a natural temptation to believe that means appearing to have everything figured out. But, time and time again, the moment a leader sits across from a key member or a department head and says, “I need your perspective on this,” something shifts in the room. Trust deepens. People lean in. The relationship becomes real.

Thinking about admired club industry leaders and icons, they are not all the most decorated or the most credentialed, but they are the most honest. They know what they do well, where they need help, and have the self-awareness and the security to act on both. That combination is not a weakness. It is the foundation upon which every great club culture is built.

Your Members Are a Resource, Not An Audience

One of the great untapped assets in private club leadership sits in plain sight every single day. It is the membership itself. Private club members are not passive consumers waiting to be served. In a member-owned club, they are co-owners of the organization you have been entrusted to run. They are lawyers, financiers, builders, strategists, physicians, and executives who have chosen to invest their time, their money, and their identity in this community.

And yet, club leaders too often treat the membership as an audience rather than a resource. They communicate at their members rather than with them. They plan for their members rather than alongside them. And when challenges arise (operational, financial, cultural) they retreat into their own expertise rather than inviting the extraordinary human capital sitting right across from them at the next committee meeting.

We have witnessed what happens when a General Manager walks into a room and says, genuinely and without a hidden agenda, that they would value the perspective of the people in it. The energy changes. Members, when engaged as owners, bring their professional networks, their decades of experience, and their deep affection for the club to bear on the challenge at hand. That is not a soft benefit. That is a competitive advantage.

Asking for help from your members is not a concession. It is a signal that you understand what kind of organization this is, and that you are wise enough to lead it accordingly. A General Manager who treats their membership as a partner will always have more resources, more insight, and more goodwill than the one who goes it alone.

The Bravest Word in Leadership Is “Help”

Somewhere along the way in private club leadership, asking for help became perceived as being less talented or less experienced, but in reality, it has just made things harder than they need to be.

It’s understandable how this has come to fruition. Leadership in the private club world carries enormous visibility. The expectations are high, the stakeholders are invested, and the culture of excellence can sometimes create unspoken pressure to appear as though you are always in command. But there is a cost to that performance that most leaders underestimate. It costs trust. It costs talent. It costs the kind of culture where the people around you feel safe enough to bring their best thinking to the table.

Some of the greatest professional moments we have witnessed – when a difficult problem found an elegant solution, when a team came together in a way that was genuinely moving – happened precisely because someone in the room was willing to say they needed help. That act of vulnerability did not diminish anyone. It elevated everyone. It gave people permission to contribute fully, and it signaled that the goal was more important than the ego.

The private club industry is navigating real headwinds right now: generational shifts in membership, staffing challenges that require genuine creativity, and governance pressures that demand more collaboration than ever before. The leaders who will build clubs that endure are not the ones who perform certainty in the face of complexity. They are the ones who have the courage to ask, the wisdom to listen, and the humility to act on what they hear. Asking for help is not the moment a leader shows weakness. It is the moment they show what kind of leader they truly are.

Club + Resort Business – May 2026

Richard M. Kopplin, Kurt D. Kuebler and Thomas B. Wallace III are partners at KOPPLIN KEUBLER & WALLACE. Richard can be reached at dick@kkandw.com. Kurt can be reached at kurt@kkandw.com. Tom can be reached at tom@kkandw.com.

For decades, capital improvement conversations at private clubs revolved around the same familiar priorities: renovating the grillroom, upgrading the golf course, expanding the fitness center, and modernizing the pool complex. Member-facing amenities dominated the capital plan, while back-of-house facilities and employee spaces were treated as an afterthought, functional at best, forgotten at worst.

Across the club industry, there has been a meaningful shift in thinking, which has led to a quiet revolution in capital planning. Employee spaces (staff break rooms, locker rooms, housing, and wellness areas) have moved from line items reluctantly funded to strategic investments that directly determine whether a club can deliver the member experience it promises.

Clubs that embrace this shift are creating a clear competitive advantage. The clubs that don’t are caught in a costly, exhausting cycle where employees continue to rotate through as though in a revolving door.

The Labor Crisis That Won’t Go Away

Across the field of hospitality, and in private clubs specifically, organizations are fighting a retention crisis unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Back-of-house positions have been among the hardest hit. These are the roles that keep a club’s kitchen, grounds, and service operations running smoothly. High turnover comes at a significant cost when clubs analyze their recruiting, hiring, and training expenses. Additionally, clubs must account for productivity and institutional knowledge that is lost when the employee leaves.

Investments Worth Considering

Employee Housing. What was once primarily a concern for remote destination clubs has now become a nationwide issue. Clubs in resort areas, affluent suburbs, and coastal markets are navigating intensifying difficulties to attract and retain quality staff as local housing costs put homeownership out of reach for many hourly employees.

Progressive clubs are addressing the challenge with creative capital solutions like integrating staff housing into larger facility projects to secure board approval. Boards are increasingly encouraged to view these investments not as charitable gestures, but as essential operational insurance. A club that can house its team is a club that can consistently deliver great service.

Break Rooms and Staff Dining. Employees who eat well, rest adequately, and have a comfortable space to decompress between shifts perform better and experience less burnout. Clubs that have invested in upgraded staff dining with quality food, clean surroundings, and a genuine opportunity to recharge report measurably higher staff morale. The difference between a club providing a well-designed break environment and one with only a folding table in a basement storage room is profound.

Locker Rooms and Personal Space. Private clubs that are serious about retaining talent must attend to back-of-house environments, ensuring employee locker rooms reflect the quality of member spaces. They should be modern, clean, and functional. The employee locker room space serves as a daily reminder to staff that they are valued and respected.

Training and Development Spaces. Continued focus on attracting and retaining top talent with professional development at the heart of that strategy will define the competitive landscape. Opportunities for career development is a great differentiator for talent seeking an investment in their future, rather than only their immediate performance.

Technology and Communication Infrastructure. Modern workforce management, including digital scheduling, transparent communication tools, and streamlined onboarding, require investment in technology. Employees who feel organized, informed, and supported in how they manage information are less likely to burn out or look elsewhere for employers who provide these tools.

Becoming an Employer of Choice

Private clubs now compete not only with one another for talent, but also with every employer in their local markets. At KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, our governance education encourages boards to consider an Employer of Choice Committee to act as a strategic partner with management on talent strategy. A shift that would have been unusual just a decade ago.

Becoming an employer of choice is not an overnight achievement but a purposeful journey that requires strategy, commitment, and care. By prioritizing the growth and well-being of employees and recognizing that this responsibility is shared among members, boards, and leaders alike, private clubs can cultivate workplaces where employees truly thrive with a sense of purpose and belonging.

Achieving employer-of-choice status requires intentional leadership. Leaders who model empathy, communicate a clear mission, and build trust at every level. When that alignment is reached, clubs don’t just operate effectively; they lead the industry by example.

Reframing the ROI Conversation

The biggest barrier to investing in employee space has long been the same challenge that slows any back-of-house capital project: visibility. A new dining terrace generates excitement at the annual meeting; a refurbished staff break room does not. Sophisticated boards, however, are learning to reframe the argument, and the numbers are in their favor. Consider a club with $12 million in annual revenue and a service model that relies on 100 hourly employees. If turnover runs at 55 percent, the club must replace 55 employees each year at a serious cost per replacement. Investments in employee spaces, housing assistance, or enhanced work environments that reduce turnover to 35 percent, which means 40 fewer replacements, can generate significant annual savings that could be reallocated to investment in a staff housing unit or a comprehensive employee area renovation that could pay for itself in as little as two years.

What Leading Clubs Are Doing

Across the industry, the most forward-thinking clubs are making employee spaces an integral part of their master planning conversations by:

• Incorporating employee housing into master plans, treating it with the same architectural intent and strategic consideration as new member amenities.
• Conducting formal behind-the-scenes audits to evaluate employee spaces with the same rigor applied to member areas and then allocating capital reserves accordingly.
• Building career development infrastructure such as training areas, certification support, mentorship programs, etc. all of which are supported both physically and operationally.
• Benchmarking the employee experience alongside the member experience, using retention rates, exit interview data, and satisfaction surveys to guide capital allocation decisions.

The clubs leading this shift are not simply being generous to employees, they are doing it because they see the results. Stable, experienced, and motivated teams consistently deliver the high service levels that keep member satisfaction scores strong, waiting lists long, and dues revenue growing.

Private clubs are entering a period of significant capital divide. Those that have modernized their approach by integrating human capital needs alongside member amenity investments are building a sustainable operational foundation for the future of their club. Those that continue to overlook the employee experience are accumulating a different kind of deferred maintenance: the gradual erosion of institutional knowledge, service consistency, and workforce stability, one employee resignation at a time.

Club Trends – Spring 2026